


Let me be your shield: Let me be the shoulder you rely on

by LinInsignia1993



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Rating to be updated in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-05-18 09:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19331479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinInsignia1993/pseuds/LinInsignia1993
Summary: My take on Avengers Endgame.Which like written in the previous sentence, will loosely base the storyline seen from the movie.And focus on creating my take on the relationship between Carol Danvers and Natasha Romanov.If you enjoy the chapter, please do leave comments or kudos to let me know. For they are the fuel for writers like me to continue to create further chapters in the future. ;)





	1. Where and When it All Began

Chapter 1: Where and When it All Began

‘Where is Fury?’

This was the first question that Carol Danvers got to ask Natasha when they first met each other. Carol showed up all of a sudden with her poker face, standing behind Natasha herself, Banner, Rhodes and Steve in the conference room.

The first reason that Natasha’s inner alarm went buzzing like crazy, is because how come Carol is able to bypass Avengers’ Tower defense system without setting off the alarm? This could mean that Carol is an enemy to the Avengers. 

But Carol’s behavior still eases Natasha’s worrying heart a little bit, is because she did not attack herself, Steve, Banner, and Rhodes while their back is facing towards her. This could mean that Carol is an ally to the Avengers. 

Whether Carol is an ally that is yet to be determined, but Natasha would cross off the fact that Carol might be an enemy to the Avengers. Based on Natasha’s experience as an ex-Russian spy, she would guess that Carol is a military person, for she only saw this kind of behavior on Steve and Rhodes before. (Of course, Steve’s military behavior might be stronger than Rhodes’.)

‘Who are you?’ Banner asked. 

Everyone who is present at the conference room all fixed their gaze on this stranger standing in front of them. Seems like no one is gonna answer her question, Carol’s hands went into the binary status and asked the question one last time. ‘I said, where is Fury?’

Natasha looked at Steve with one gaze, Steve then took a step towards Carol and said, ‘Fury got dusted away.’

Who could have expected the next second Carol flew so fast off the ground, she went all binary and lifted Steve by his shirt collar, just like a mother cat lifted her baby-kitten with its mouth and she pinned Steve up against the wall. Every Avengers present in the conference room all summoned their respective weapon of choice simultaneously. Banner and Rhodes each summoned Hulkbuster’s and War Machine’s gauntlet. Thor channeled the thunder with lighting burst from his body. But only Natasha calmly remain standing at where she was standing. Now come to think of it, she wasn’t sure why didn’t she take out her batons, she only knew that she will trust whomever Fury trusted. 

Everyone looks at each other with such intensity of alert… when it feels like an eternity has passed, Carol finally let go, the binary golden color in her eyes returned to her usual hazelnut color, and she inspects every Avengers present in the room in silence. 

‘When we came back from Wakanda we found this pager by his vehicle, the device ran out of juice after we returned to the tower. We managed to bypass the battery, reboot the device and sent the signal out again,’ Natasha seized this chance of silence, after cutting into the building tension she pointed at the device now is located behind her back. She then points towards Carol’s uniform where it also has the same symbol seen on the device. ‘I’m guessing you are the one Fury was looking for, you mind tell us who are you now?’

Natasha could practically feel Carol’s eyes fixed on her. Just when everyone in the room is about to come to the conclusion that, this lady in front of them is gonna ignored every question asked in her way, Carol finally spoke. 

‘Carol Danvers, friends with Agent Fury.’ Like a deflated balloon, Carol suddenly begged Natasha. ‘Please, help me check two names.’ Now Carol’s voice sounded so repress, it made Natasha almost subconsciously wanted to give her a hug. Because Natasha could see that Carol also lost someone who is extremely important to her during Thanos’ snap. She quietly reached for the tablet resting on the conference table, put in the two names that Carol wanted her to search. 

Maria Rambeau – Missing.  
Monica Rambeau – Missing. 

Once again, like a deflated balloon Carol crash-landed on the conference room sofa then handed the tablet back to Natasha. What felt like an eternity of silence has passed, Carol opens her mouth once again, trying very hard to control her binary power. ‘Who snapped the finger?’

Rhodes looked at the monitor installed in the conference room, saw Ms. Potts’ hurry on her way to the gathering, interrupted Carol’s question. ‘Ms. Potts is coming.’

‘Still no news about Tony?’ Ms. Potts cut straight to the point, expressing her worries for Tony. 

‘I’ve been trying to pinpoint Milano’s coordinate ever since the battle ended in Wakanda, but so far… no success.’ Rocket the Raccoon jumped on the table, showing everyone his Milano’s tracking device, which is yet to flash the “location located” green light. 

‘Give me the tracker.’ Stood up from the sofa, Carol got the tracker from Rocket, put the device in her Kree uniform’s gauntlet then turn on the signal booster. She asked in the meantime. 

‘You guys still yet to answer me, who snapped the finger?’ Carol’s eyes fix gazed on the galaxies hologram map that is being projected from her gauntlet while eyeing Rocket flashing its money eye with a warning. Natasha answered after she got the look from Steve. 

‘It’s Thanos who snapped his finger,’ Before Natasha could finish, the Milano’s tracker started to flash the “location located” green light, which made everyone in the room light up with expressions of hope. After studying the hologram map projected onto Carol’s palm, Rocket dumped a bucket of ice water on top of everyone… as usual. 

‘Milano is at THAT LOCATION?! Even we got a spaceship that could make the travel it will still take a couple of lightyears to reach that destination!’ 

‘No need, the guy on the ship is called Tony right?’ With a blast from her photon blast towards the conference room’s ceiling, Carol went binary and took off towards the sky. ‘I’ll be able to bring him home within an hour.’

‘Em, is anyone else also curious about how she got in here like I do?’ Banner asked. 

‘Is anyone else also want a set of that high-tech transmitter and receiver like I do?’ said Rocket, who also managed to get everyone eyeing him from looking at that blast hole in the ceiling made by Carol Danvers.


	2. The Moment When You Stole My Heart Away.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on Avengers Endgame.
> 
> Which like written in the previous sentence, will loosely base the storyline seen from the movie.
> 
> And focus on creating my take on the relationship between Carol Danvers and Natasha Romanov.
> 
> If you enjoy the chapter, please do leave comments or kudos to let me know. For they are the fuel for writers like me to continue to create further chapters in the future. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is kinda the same as chapter 1. I was toying with the idea whether I could write in the style like Rick Riordan did in his Percy Jackson series, Heroes of Olympus series etc. 
> 
> But turns out I'm not there yet to write as Rick did, so... only this chapter will be (kinda) focus on Carol's perspective. The rest of the chapters will be in third person point of view. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy~

Chapter 2: The Moment When You Stole My Heart Away

Years of lone travel in the galaxies, already made Carol subconsciously seeing anyone who stands in front of her as an enemy. (That’s a force of habit, never intentional for sure.) Aside from her best friend Maria, Lieutenant Trouble, Mar-Vell (or Lawson, for that, was the name the world remembered her by), Fury and Talos’ family along with the Skrull that followed him could let Carol lay down her guards. There are ONLY FEW who could really DO let her lay down her guards. 

Today, Carol managed to help a planet which she always struggles to pronounce… (think the planet is called Tatiana Antanasia Cositori Topotrepolovsky. Ah, whatever… call the planet Topsy would do just fine.) with their long troubling drought situation. After she went binary and took off towards the sky, she heard cries, screams of lost coming from the ground that reached her ears. Landed once again, Carol saw the crying Topsynians gathered together, and there are piles of dust in front of every group.

Next second, the receiver built-in in her uniform’s gauntlet starting to buzz violently like crazy, notifying her that the signal is coming from the pager she had upgraded for Fury. The one she specifically reminded Fury that he could only use it when it’s an emergency. 

(This can’t be good…)

Since the early day she returned the pager to Fury, Carol would still pay her friends a visit once in a while. It’s just that she preferred to keep her distance up high in the sky, using her Kree-enhanced eyes to see Fury worked his way up from an Agent of SHIELD to the Director of SHIELD, seeing Maria raising Lieutenant Trouble, and smiled when she saw Fury decided to use her Air Force code name to put together an “Avengers Initiative” (I’m gonna ask him for copyright…). As time goes by, Carol would pay her human friends fewer and fewer visit, trusting that Fury and his fellow agents will take good care of the Earth business. 

It’s just this time… Looks like she is really needed back on Earth.

Carol flew to find the Chieftain of Planet Topsy, using Kree’s translation technology, she gave a military vow to the Chieftain. 

‘I vow to you, I’ll find the one who is responsible for this…’ then she took off towards the sky, flying towards Earth’s direction. 

Sometimes, Carol really hated her Tesseract-enhanced and Kree-enhanced ear. When the galaxies are at peace, her ears are at peace. But this time as Carol flying back towards the Earth, there are many planets along the way, just like Carol suspected she could only hear non-stop crying from these planets. 

Carol’s binary status went brighter than ever.  
Unprecedented murderousness shown in her eyes.

***

Tracing the signal towards its origin, Carol saw a tall tower with an A logo on the building’s side. 

(I’m sorry Fury…) Carol thought, then she proceeds to land in front of the tower’s entrance.  
(I’m here, I’ll help you put everything right.)

Carol saw the entrance is installed with advanced security, chuckled then she put her hand on the screen, let the Kree’s security technology slice through the system and the double doors slide open without trouble. Carol followed her ears and trace the conversation voices back to what looks like to be the conference room, and saw that there are four people standing in there… 

No signs of Fury. 

‘Fury knows… Please reboot the signal again, and when the signal does patch through please let me know. I want to know who’s on the other side of that device.’ a lady with a light-blonde (almost white) hair color stands between the other three men. 

‘Where is Fury?’ Carol asked at the same time as the blonde lady turn around. At that moment, Carol felt like a battering ram hit against her heart. 

The lady’s white blonde hair falls naturally, her emerald green eyes sparkle and shine with such beauty that immediately stole Carol’s heart away. Carol also recognized something else in this lady’s face too, in that hard set of her mouth and the deliberate way she raised her chin like she was ready to accept any challenge. It’s a forcing look of courage while holding back a mixture of hopefulness, worry, and fear that she couldn’t show in public. 

Carol feels like she was looking at herself when she first enlisted to the Air Force, and every time she looked in a mirror ever since. 

To be honest, Carol would love to give this blonde lady in front of her a hug, but… business first. 

‘I said, where is Fury?’ The blonde lady looks towards the bearded man standing beside her, the later took a step closer towards Carol. 

‘Fury got dusted away.’ 

(Fury GOT DUSTED away.)

This could be listed behind the other two failure that Carol could not forget about.

Carol’s failure number one:  
She has forsaken her title as Air Force number one, did not manage to take Lawson to her lab safely. 

Carol’s failure number two:  
She has forsaken Lawson’s expectation, still hasn’t found a way to end the war between the Kree and the Skrull. 

Now, Carol’s failure number three:  
She has forsaken her friendship with Fury. She should not demand Fury to use the pager to call her only for an emergency. She has enough power and strength to help him whenever he needed. 

(Who the hell did it?!)

All these thoughts flash through Carol’s mind in seconds. Next, Carol took off from the ground, her body shine with full binary force, grab Steve by his collar and hit him against the conference room wall. With the corner of her eyes, Carol saw that everyone in the room all summoned their weapon of choice. The older one and the black man are wearing a gauntlet, one man’s body burst with lighting, and the air is filled with the burning smell of thunder. 

(If they’re thinking that these weapons could bring her down, they are so wrong.) Carol chuckled. But she also noted that only the blonde lady remains where she stands, without any kinds of weapon in her hands, just like she is trusting her that she won’t kill this breaded man in front of her with one swift strike. 

Everyone looks at each other with alert… What feels like an eternity has passed, Carol finally let go, and her eyes returned to her original hazelnut color from her binary status. After letting go of the bearded man, Carol remains silence and inspect those who stand around her. 

(Guessing these are the Avengers that Fury had put together…)

‘When we came back from Wakanda we found this pager by his vehicle, the device ran out of juice after we returned to the tower. We managed to bypass the battery, reboot the device and sent the signal out again.’ The blonde lady seized this chance of silence, after cutting into the building tension she pointed at the logo on Carol’s chest. 

‘Guess that you are the last resort Fury was talking about, you mind telling us who are you now?’

As for the blonde lady’s question, it made Carol inspect her once again, trying to determine what is the feeling that this lady is giving towards her:

Military person? Nope, this lady doesn’t have what Carol would call the military behavior. If she had to say, Carol would label the bearded man and the black man under the military person label. 

Trained? Maybe, her body is lean yet built with muscle. She looks like someone who would go to the gym three times a week. 

But there are too many painful memories on this blonde lady. Carol could tell from her expression; the lady sees the rest in the room as her family. Unlike Carol herself, she only has Maria, Lieutenant Trouble, Doc, Fury and Talos’ family to call them her family. 

After all these thoughts flashed past, Carol finally spoke again. 

‘Carol Davers, friends with Fury.’

Then, the word “family” reminded Carol of something…  
(Maria and Lieutenant Trouble!) Like a deflated balloon, Carol begged the blonde lady in front of her. 

‘Please… help me check two names.’ This is the first time Carol heard her voice is so strained. The lady reached for the tablet, after doing some typing, she extended the tablet towards Carol. 

Maria Rambeau – Missing.  
Monica Rambeau – Missing. 

Carol’s failure number four:  
Failed to protect Maria and Lieutenant Trouble. 

Carol crash sitting on the sofa, silently return the tablet back to the blonde lady.  
(So much for having all these kinds of amazing powers, I still failed to protect those who I really care about…)

No one bothers to break the silence between them, but Carol asked again with both her teeth and fists clenched. ‘Who snapped the finger?’

The black man standing beside the table interrupted after taking a glance at the monitor, ‘Ms. Potts is here.’ 

A lady with an orange long hair entered the conference room (Ms. Potts, Carol think…) cutting straight to the point. ‘Still no news about Tony’s whereabouts?’ 

‘I’ve been trying nonstop to pinpoint Milano’s exact coordinate, so far, no luck…’ A talking Racoon jumped onto the table, showing everyone the device he’s holding in his palm, which is flashing red light nonstop right now. Just one glance, Carol could already determine that the device is an advanced model from Xandar’s tracking technology. If boosted by Hala’s transmitter, the tracking device’s search distance could be extended about ten galaxies away from Earth. 

‘Give me that,’ Carol stood up from the sofa, took the device from the Racoon’s palm, inserted in her gauntlet and turn on the booster function, she asked in the meantime. 

‘You guys still haven’t answered me yet, who snapped the finger?’ Carol fixed her gaze on the palm size galaxies hologram map being projected onto her hand. While eyeing the Racoon who is flashing its “money eyes”, Carol saw that the blonde lady took another glance towards the bearded man. 

‘Thanos is the one who snapped the finger,’ The moment when the blonde lady finished, the tracking device in Carol’s gauntlet started to flash the green light, which made every face in the room lit up with expressions of hope. Racoon took a step closer to examine the palm size hologram map and dump a bucket of cold water on everyone’s head. Which almost made Carol wanted to punch its head.  
(Animal cruelty is still a thing, right?)

‘Milano is at THAT LOCATION?! Even we got a spaceship that could make the travel it will still take a couple of lightyears to reach that destination!’

‘No need, the guy on the ship is called Tony right?’ With a blast from her photon blast towards the conference room’s ceiling, Carol went binary and took off towards the sky. ‘I’ll be able to bring him home within an hour.’

(Just you wait, Fury. I’ll bring back everyone that was dusted away in the galaxies including you, Maria and Lieutenant Trouble. I’ll make Thanos pay for messing with those I care deeply about.)


	3. You're Here, That's All That Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on Avengers Endgame.
> 
> Which like written in the previous sentence, will loosely base the storyline seen from the movie.
> 
> And focus on creating my take on the relationship between Carol Danvers and Natasha Romanov.
> 
> If you enjoy the chapter, please do leave comments or kudos to let me know. For they are the fuel for writers like me to continue to create further chapters in the future. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 Incoming~~~~~
> 
> Thank you all for your comments and kudos! I really appreciated from the bottom of my heart. 
> 
> Again, if you enjoy this chapter, please leave your comments or kudos to let me know. ;)

Chapter 3: You're Here, That's All That Matters

For the very first time in her life, Natasha finally realized that waiting for one hour could be this long. So long that everyone decided that they would all return to their own room, get themselves refresh, and wait till this Carol Danvers to bring Tony back. 

Natasha is currently in her room right now, she was organizing her room here a bit, organizing her room there a bit. She felt like she already cleaned her room like five times already and Carol still hasn’t returned with Tony yet.

‘Friday, how long has it been since Carol went to bring Tony back?’  
‘Twenty minutes, Miss Romanoff,” Friday, the AI Tony created to take care of the Avenger Tower answered. ‘You usually weren’t this anxious…’

‘Thank you! Friday,’ Natasha snapped on Friday

‘I’m merely stating a fact, Miss Romanoff. I’ve detected that your heart rate is faster than when you were in a combat situation right now. Are you worrying about Miss Danvers’s safety?’ 

(Worrying about Carol Danvers?) Who knew that the well-known Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff could struggle to answer a simple question such as this one? 

(Am I worrying about Carol Danvers?)

‘I’m simply worried that she may run into Thanos, you do have seen that Mad Titans in combat before he got all the infinity stones from Tony’s point of view, and now to think that Thanos has all the stones…’ Natasha argued. 

‘By definition, your argument completely fits the description of worrying about other’s safety. I suggest that you can do something that will calm yourself down for the time being. When there’s a spacecraft approaching the tower, I’ll notify you all the other Avengers.’

Natasha sighs while looking towards the microphone that’s designed to broadcast the AI’s voice, then she realized there is something that Friday could help her with, and it will also calm her own self down for the time being.  
‘Friday, can you help me retrieve files regarding Carol Danvers from SHIELD’s database?’  
‘Sure thing, Miss Romanoff.’ Natasha went to pour herself a cup of water and return to sit on the sofa in her room, waiting for Friday to retrieve what she has asked her to help with.

‘The files have been retrieved, Miss Romanoff,’ said Friday. 

‘Thank you, please project it on screen now.’ 

***  
‘A spacecraft is approaching; I think Miss Danvers has successfully brought Mr. Stark back.’

Friday’s voice is like rain raining on a field which is suffering from heavy drought, being broadcasted in every Avengers’ own room. Steve, Banner, Rhodes, and Natasha all quickly make their way towards the open field in front of the tower, standing just behind Ms. Potts just in time to catch the most beautiful sight Natasha has ever seen in her life. 

Her body shines with golden light, Carol along carried Milano right below the spacecraft’s belly. No sweat and no struggle, she gently set the spacecraft on the ground. From within the shadow of the spacecraft, come two figures, one support another limping one. It is Tony and Nebula everyone is worrying about. 

Natasha saw Steve runs forward, helping Nebula assist Tony exiting the ship. Seeing the two men whisper to each other, Tony with the expression of lost and Steve with the expression of comfort and sorry. Natasha smile from the bottom of her heart. 

At this point, both Tony and Steve know that it’s no longer necessary to argue further about the Sokovia Accords because all their point of view would loses especially facing this Mad Titan. 

(If they still decided to argue further about the Accords, I personally will punch them awake….) But Natasha found herself look past across Tony, Steve, and Ms. Potts, towards the lone figure still standing on the grass field: Carol Danvers. 

When she made her first step towards Carol, she saw that tall figure waver, and then she saw Carol crash-landed sit on the field. Natasha quickly runs towards Carol while the later covered her face in her hands. She could hear her whispered to herself. 

‘When the galaxies were suffering from the Snap… Where was I? I could have intervened…’

‘Hey! Carol, look at me!’ Natasha lay her hand on Carol’s shoulder, trying to make eye contact with her. Carol finally raised her head, her un-focused gaze finally fixed on looking at the lady in front of her. 

‘You’re here, that’s all that matters…’ Natasha watch Carol nod her head in acknowledgment, then she pulled her up from the grass field. Natasha looks at Carol’s battle uniform from top to bottom…

‘Come, I think a hot shower will do you some good.’

***

Natasha is standing in her room inside the Avenger’s Tower, listening to the shower sound from the bathroom, and Carol’s battle uniform was lay on the sofa. Subconsciously, Natasha started to read the files regarding Carol that Friday had retrieved for her from SHIELD’s database. 

Anything about Carol’s information, aside from her birth date, graduated first in the Air Force Academy, the enlist number, became the first two female combat pilots with Maria, and her KIA date did not get redacted. All the rest of the information needs Fury’s permission to read…

(Fury, how long have you hide this Ace of yours?)

Natasha was so focused on looking at the projected info regarding Carol that she completely did not notice that the subject of the info already finish her shower. And the subject have stood quietly behind her for quite a while now. 

‘Miss. Romanoff, are you trying to make a full investigation regarding me?’ 

A voice unfamiliar to her reached her ears, which made Natasha react immediately by grabbing the nearest weapon within her reach: the electric dart that paralyzed Bucky’s mechanical arm and shoot it towards the direction of the voice. Then she realized, that voice was Carol’s, who just saved Tony and Nebula from stranded in space. 

‘I’m SO SORRY!’ Just managed to say sorry, Natasha saw that the electric dart which was supposed to knock Carol out just bounced off from her chest and landed on the floor. 

‘No worries, so far all the weapons you guys have on Earth could do no damage to me at all.’ Carol shrugged her shoulder, chuckled at Natasha’s surprised/stunned expression, then pointed at the hologram screen which is still displaying every info about her. 

‘You know, if you want to know something about me, you could just ask.’

Natasha blinked while trying to focus on what Carol is saying, instead of doing a full examination at Carol’s well-built, lean and clearly well-experienced in combat body hiding under the black shirt and green pants she lended to her…

‘Um… Let’s just head back to the conference room. Everyone including Tony is waiting for us…’ Natasha quickly makes her way towards the room, while having a puzzled Carol following behind her.


	4. Because You Are Worth It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on Avengers Endgame.
> 
> Which like written in the previous sentence, will loosely base the storyline seen from the movie.
> 
> And focus on creating my take on the relationship between Carol Danvers and Natasha Romanov.
> 
> If you enjoy the chapter, please do leave comments or kudos to let me know. For they are the fuel for writers like me to continue to create further chapters in the future. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 Incoming~
> 
> Celebrating that I found a new job and tomorrow will be my first day on duty, here is chapter 4. 
> 
> I hope so far that you all are enjoying the story~ 
> 
> If you enjoy and like the story, please let me know in the comment section and leave kudos too. 
> 
> ;)

Chapter 4: Because You Are Worth It. 

Right now, Natasha was sitting behind Carol who is sitting on the co-pilot’s seat. With Rhodes, Thor, Nebula, Steve, and Rocket who is sitting on the pilot’s seat. They are inside Milano on their way to Titan Two, ready to take the six infinity stones back from Thanos. She couldn’t help but recalled the scene when Carol was reading the missing personal list and number that Friday has gathered for them. 

Wavering shoulders, clenched fists, welling eyes. 

‘Then let’s go get them, we’ll use the stones to bring everyone back.’ Even though knowing Carol for only a short amount of time, Natasha started to discover that even though this Carol usually works alone up till this moment, but there is something special about her that makes those around her wanted to rally behind her, to follow her even to the most dangerous fight. Maybe this is the reason why she and Maria Rambeau were so well-known during their time in the Air Force. 

(Or it could be because that when Carol realized that the room has fallen into utter silence and no one responds to her after she completed her sentence. Carol suddenly turn her puppy dog’s eyes to her, figuratively knocking her off balance.)

‘Even if there is a small chance we could undo this, we owe it to those who are not here, and the remaining civilians to give it a try!’ Natasha replies in agreement. 

‘If we do this, how do we know it’s gonna end any differently than it did before?’ After hearing what Banner has stated, Natasha almost laughs right on the moment. 

Being able to change into Hulk, supposedly being the most impulsive one amongst them because of being able to change into Hulk, the one most likely to come up the plan to take the stones back because of being able to change into Hulk. Seems like ever since Thanos knocked Hulk unconscious, Banner is feeling uncertain towards everything. Before she could reply, Carol answered first. 

‘That’s because last time, you guys didn’t have me.’

‘Hey, New girl! Everyone here in this room is all about that superhero life,’ Probably taken Carol’s words for sarcastic, Rhodes snapped, then turn the attention to this “suddenly appeared, calling herself Captain Marvel’s” Carol Danvers.

‘If you don’t mind me asking, where the hell have you been all these times? And why should we just believe whatever you shared with us about yourself?’ 

‘There are a lot of other planets in the universe, and unfortunately, they didn’t have you guys.’ Hearing Rhodes’ harsh and demanding question, Carol answered with confidence.

‘This time, I will go with you guys. You all may question about my power, concern that how I could help turn the tide. But my body absorbed the energy blast from the flight engine modified from the Space Stone, or the Tesseract as you guys called it. That blast has given me powers beyond my imagination.’ Carol said while her hands went into Binary Force, photon blast’s distinguished buzz echoed around the conference room. 

‘Since you all are assembled under Fury’s good work… For Fury’s sake, for the heroes who got dusted away and for the remaining lives on every planet in the universe,’ Everyone in the room saw that Carol’s body went into Binary Force as well. This is one of the few times that Carol showed (aside from Fury and Maria) her Binary Force in front of people. 

‘If you’re willing, I will fight with you all.’

From that moment, after hearing Carol’s declaration Natasha already know… If they did win this war against Thanos, if Tony and Steve decide to retire, Carol would most likely be the next leader to lead the Avengers. And she would be willingly and gladly to follow her, to be her consultant and the brain she needed in the future. 

‘Let’s go find this Son of a bitch.’ Steve looked at Carol, nod in acknowledgment to accept Carol’s offer. 

Now, Carol Danvers, as known as Captain Marvel officially returns to the Avengers. 

***

‘Answer the questions!’

‘Where are they?’

‘I destroyed them…’

‘You lied! You used them two days ago!’

‘I used the Stones to destroy the Stones…’

‘It can’t be true, he must have hidden it in this field, let’s turn the farm upside down to see if we can find it!’

‘My father is many things, but lying was not one of them.’

‘Thank you, daughter…’

‘Perhaps I was too harsh on you…’

‘WHAT DID YOU DO!’

‘This time, I aim for the head.’

***

Ever since that day everyone suddenly gets to know Carol Danvers, ever since they returned empty-handed from the Mad Titan on Titan Two, Natasha couldn’t help but think nonstop about…

(How many times has Carol Danvers save her and the remaining Avengers from dangers…?) Why Natasha would think this way, thanks to those (ungrateful) government…

So, this is what’s going on between Heroes and the government. When they need heroes, they will give them the uttermost respect. Seeing the heroes’ number grow stronger, fearing that they could not control them, the government then decided to force an accord on top of heroes. When they don’t need heroes or seeing the heroes who failed to protect them, they would seize the chance to discard them aside in disgust immediately.

‘Avengers! Get out here!’

‘Get out here!’

‘Where were you guys when our family got dusted away?!’ 

‘Didn’t you all claim that you will protect us when the world is at its danger?!’ 

‘The Government already said it! They gave you permission to start the operation! Or is it because you all think that you didn’t get enough tax from us?! You greedy liars!’

‘Get out here!!!’ 

***

Didn’t know when it started, didn’t know who the hell hacked into the government’s database and most definitely didn’t know who disclosed the Avengers Tower’s secret location. For weeks groups and groups of angered mob rally in front of the Tower, expressing their anger, loss, hate, and frustration of losing their loved ones. The mob was so angry that when they see a lone Avenger walking on the street, they would all rush forward and punch he or she out of anger and frustration. Those who yelled punch could never recall the many success the Avengers have achieved before the Dusting happened. They could only remember this failure, the ONLY failure from the Avengers. Those who didn’t yell punch would still look at them in disgust. No one has treated them nicely ever since.  


It happened so many times already… When the Avengers had no choice but to leave the Tower to buy living goods, they were still being recognized as the Avengers even with their civilian disguise. When they were being punched by the angry mobs, fleeing from one street to another, it’s always Carol in her full Binary status, garbed in her battle uniform flying in to save them from danger. When it’s Natasha’s turn to buy the goods, being yelled and punched by the mobs. Carol who dressed in civilian clothing would mysterious appeared beside her. She would pull her behind her back, taking the despise, yell, curses and punches that weren’t meant for her in the first place. 

When Carol tried to shield Natasha from the angry mobs, seven out of ten rescues Carol was being punched till her face is heavily bruised. Two rescues out of ten, Carol was being punched till she had to lean her weight on Natasha, limping back to the Tower. One rescue out of ten, Carol was almost being punched unconscious right on scene even when Natasha tried to intervene…

Even though Natasha know that Carol can endure a lot of pain before she got her power. Now that she has power Natasha also knows that Carol only needs a few hours rest, to activate the Kree-enhanced healing factor within her body then she would be just fine. Still, when Natasha heard punches landed on Carol’s flesh, she would always feel that her heart is being clenched, twisted by a pair of invisible hands. She would feel like someone was choking her, making her struggle to breathe. 

When the angry mob finally decided to leave them alone, Distressed, Natasha gently holds Carol in her arms, who is trying very hard not to winced due to the pain. Natasha quietly whispered. 

‘Why didn’t use your power on them?’  
‘Why are you protecting me?’ Natasha heard Carol pants in her arms, answered:  
‘Because they are not the enemy…’

‘Because you are worth it…’


End file.
